In one of His
Tablets 'Abdu'l-Baha describes the motivation for punishment exacted by society
on those who commit serious crimes. "Far from being an act of vengeance",
He affirms, the punishment “is like the requital by a father who punisheth his
son for the son's wrongdoing: seemingly inflection, but truly benediction ....
[It] proceedeth from the father's tender and pitying heart, warding off from
his child all that is base, driving him on to all excellence; and from it, step
by step, will the cherished son be led into perfections and all good ways of life.
(Memorandum from the Research Department of
the Universal House of Justice dated 16 October 1994)
